Alastair:
We all stood there in the hallway outside of the hospital waiting room. Everyone was too anxious to sit down.
It seemed that all who attended the party was trying to get in to make sure that Penny was alright. Seeing how much everyone seemed to care about her made it far more difficult to even think about the conversation that we’d have soon.
Agnes was among the many who found themselves at the hospital. Despite, my current disdain for her, I allowed her entry as she was Penny’s aunt and the only mother figure the girl had really ever known.
“Maybe that is the reason for her poor character,” said Aziz.
I could not disagree.
“Are you certain that we should have this conversation as soon as we see him, Alastair?” Toran asked me.
“You ask as if we will have a choice,” I countered. “You and I both know that as soon as John clears the corner, he will want to know what happened, who did it, and how can he go about unleashing hell on them.”
As I thought about this, I couldn’t help but chance a glance at my baby girl. She was standing there next to her older sister, her eyes dazed and her expression bitter. Harlyn was in shock and she was distraught, but I couldn’t help but doubt that the reason behind these emotions was not because of Penny.
“So how are we going to do this?” Toran asked.
“That depends on John,” I replied. “How he proceeds is how we’ll proceed.”
Just as I said this, my Delta rounded the corner, his eyes low to the ground and his brow wrinkled with concern.
Agnes, who had been anxiously watching us the entire time. When she noticed John approaching, she nervously looked away.
Oh yeah. We had her dead to rights. The wretch was a guilty as they come.
After John was done with Agnes, he immediately headed toward us. His expression completely changed. He was angry.
“How is she?” I asked.
“Who did this, Alastair! We need to figure out who did this! I will rip them apart-”
“John!” Toran grabbed John’s shoulder. “We will discuss this soon. First…how is she?”
John, who had been breathing hard with aggravation, took a deep breath, sighed. “She…she’s still in the ICU. Lost a lot of blood, too much for her healing factor to catch up with the wound. She’s going through a blood transfusion. They’re going to keep pumping her with it until her body can start healing the wound.”
“Then she’ll make it.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I believe she will. My girl’s a strong one.” His jaw clenched. “Alastair, I need to know who did this to my little girl.”
The pain in his face was something all too familiar to me. I felt it, and I knew that pain. I felt sympathy for him, and admittedly a tinge of guilt for what we were about to talk about.
“John,” I finally said.
He could see it written all over my face.
“Alastair?” His eyes widened. He looked around at the few that were surrounding us. “What is it? What do you know? You know something! What do you know?”
“We should go in the waiting room. This is-”
“No! Tell me! What happened?!”
“John. This-”
“It was her, wasn’t it?!” he snapped. His glare was solidified on Val.
“John, you need to calm down-”
“You’ve always hated her! You-”
“No,” Val replied calmly.
“You liar! It was you-”
“I said,” An energy waved through the air, and immediately I sensed that it was from Valene.
John stopped talking and froze. I knew it was because Vale somehow had a hold on him.
“Valene, not here,” I said.
“No, I think here is fine,” she replied and approached John. “He doesn’t want to talk about this calmly. So let’s talk.” She stood face to face with John Minken and then she spoke. “For most of my life, I’ve served your kind. I’ve always been at the mercy of inhumans. Never considered worthy enough of the lowest form of respect. Not worthy to even look you in the eye. Until now.” she smirked. “Even with the disrespect that I’ve endured for over a decade of my life…by you…by your daughter…I have never risen a hand to her. I never dis…respected her. And you know…what I got…for all my troubles?”
Valene lifted her neck. Then she pulled down the collar of her loose fitting shirt to reveal a long puckered scar that was nearing the middle of her chest. She pulled her hair from her eye and revealed another scar.
“This,” she finally said. “Your daughter…and your sister drugged me, kidnapped me…fed on me…”
“Vale,” I interceded. John couldn’t take it, his eyes were wide with disbelief. He couldn’t believe it and if I was being honest, though I knew that it was the truth, it was hard for me to believe it too.
“Then they left me to die. It was at that point, while nearly on my last breath that I was attacked…and mauled by ferals.” She waited for a moment, then she chuckled. “You know that I’m telling the truth because you know how much she hated me-how much she still hates me. But you’re blinded by blood. I get it. So…let me show you…what happened that night…” She lifted her hands and raised them to his head.
“Vale,” I started then I paused. She was right. The only way that John would accept or believe Valene was if he saw it for himself. The same way that we did.
She laid her palms to his temples and immediately, John seemed to feel the shock of the past, then the pain of it. He buckled to his knees and his eyes widened, his body shaking violently.
When Valene finally released John, his head was shaking wildly and drool was seeping down his mouth.
The pain…was it truly that bad for him?
“When I revealed what happened to Harlyn, to dad…Ares,” she started. “I didn’t let them feel everything…I knew they could handle it…but I didn’t want them to. I didn’t think that there was a necessity for them to experience it in full. They were meant to see the truth of my death. And how this new life started. But you…you need to know the reality of how that death felt…the pain, the fear…the complete and utter loss of hope.”
John’s head shakily turned toward his sister was now aghast with fear. She gradually stumbled away from us. Farther away than we already were.
She was afraid.
“Those were the last moments of my life. As a human.” She knelt down to eye-level with him. “Your sister…did that. Your daughter….did that.”
John helped himself up, and he turned around, and just watched Agnes.
“Y-you did this….” he sniffled through tears. “You?” he said with disbelief in his tone.
“Jo-John, John, brother! I-”
“You turned my daughter into a murderer!”
“John!”
“A murderer Agnes! Your own niece!” Still, he couldn’t seem to believe what he was even saying. “Your own…niece?” he asked through tears as he took distraught steps toward his sister. “Why?”
“B-be-b-because I…John, I-”
There was no answer that Agnes could muster that was good enough. There would have been no answer good enough for me.
“John,” I followed behind him. “John, calm down.” I had already known what John was going to do. And by the looks of it, so did Agnes.
She knew by this point that she had been caught and that there was no need to run. Didn’t mean that she wouldn’t.
And she did.
Quickly, she turned tail and ran. John started to go after her when I grabbed him. “No, John.” I nodded to Toran and quickly he jetted off to retrieve Agnes.
John faced me. “Alastair! Alastair, Penny wouldn’t have done this if Agnes-he manipulated her! I-Alastair, we can’t-”
“John!” I stopped him. “Don’t worry about that right now. You worry about Penny. Go be with your daughter. We’ll talk more about this when everything is calmed down.”
“But I can’t…Alastair. I can’t not worry about this…worry about her. This is treason. She committed treason…because of Agnes…the outcome won’t be good, Alastair.”
“John…we will figure this out.” We will.”
He stared past me and I already knew that he was staring at her.
“Sh-is-you think it’s real? What…what she showed me…us?”
John, she’s no longer human…she has the scars…do you really think she’d lie?”
He dropped his head because he knew that Valene was telling the truth. It was hard to accept it, but he knew that she was.
“The pain…that that girl…has…” He held his chest.
“I don’t like to think about it.” I confessed.
John’s eyes began to tear up again. “Your little girl…even before you found out who she truly was. I remember that night.”
So did I. Vividly.
“How…are you so calm?” John asked.
It was at that moment, that I chuckled. It was time for me to tell the truth. “Thing is, John…I’m not. I’m angry and I’m anxious.. My daughter has suffered through…insurmountable odd and torment. And now…I get this terrible feeling that something has happened to Merari. So…I only seem calm, John, but in truth…it’s quite the opposite.”
“Well,” sighed John. “That’s why you’re the alpha.” he stared at Valene. “Did she do it, Alastair?” when I didn’t answer, he looked at me. “Did she try to kill Penny?”
“If I said no, would you believe me?”
John chuckled dryly. “Guess you’re right about that.”
“Go..go be with your daughter.”
Defeated, John finally agreed. He headed towards the room where Penny was located.
“Hey, John.” he paused. “We will figure this out.”
“I know.” he continued off. “And tell Harlyn that she’s welcome to visit any time.”
The smile I gave was hardly reaching. I nodded and watched him walk away.
“If only he knew….Harlyn is the last person that Penny would want to see right now.”
“She is,” I said. “But he’ll figure that out sooner or later.”